White Supremacy

White supremacy refers to the system that benefits and favors white people over people of other races. This was the over cultural paradigm in the United States prior to the 1960's. Since that time many of the institutions set up to benefit white people continue to function. For example, Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness traces the way that incarceration and the "War on Drugs" were used to target Africa-Americans in the 1980's and benefit white people in the U.S.

White supremacy can operate at an interpersonal level as well. For example, when majority white groups expect people of color to adapt to white patterns of behavior when they join the group. These attitudes reinscribe the perception that the values, and achievements of the western world, particularly of Anglo/European culture are inherently superior to others. Historically, this is the logic that has been used to justify the actions of white majority groups that aim to produce cultural homogeneity, normalize whiteness, and otherwise oppress people of color for the benefit of white people.

Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The New Jim Crow directly challenges the notion that the election of Barack Obama signals a new era of colorblindness. With dazzling candor, legal scholar Michelle Alexander argues that "we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it." By targeting black men through the War on Drugs and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control—relegating millions to a permanent second-class status even as it formally adheres to the principle of colorblindness. In the words of Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, this book is a "call to action."

Komboa Ervin, Lorenzo. Anarchism and the Black Revolution. Anarchist Library. September, 1993.In the second edition of his pamphlet, Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin aims to "briefly discuss the nature of Anarchism and its relevance to the Black Liberation movement" and "introduce the Black movement to revolutionary Anarchist ideals." Chapters include (1) An Analysis of White Supremacy; (2) Where is the Black struggle and where should it be going?; and (3) Anarchist Theory and Practice. A short biography is also included in the appedix. Some of the topics covered are race and class oppression of Black communities, tactics for Black resistance, and an overview of various types of anarchism. Ervin was a Black Panther who became anarchist in the late 1970s.